Reversal of HCC drug resistance by using hammerhead ribozymes against multidrug resistance 1 gene

To reverse multidrug resistance (MDR) of HepG2 by anti-MDR1 hammerhead ribozyme, an anti-MDR1 hammerhead ribozyme was developed and delivered to P-gp-overproducing human hepatocarcinoma cell line HepG2 by a retroviral vector containing RNA polymerase III promoter. The expression of mdr1/Pgp and Rz was detected in HepG2, HepG2 multidrug-resistant cell line and HepG2 Rz-transfected cells by semi-quantitative RT-PCR and Western blot methods. Moreover, MTT assay was employed to detect the sensitivity of these ribozyme-transfected cells, and Rhodamine 123 (Rh123) was used to test the function of Pgp. The Rz-transfected HepG2 cells became doxorubicin-sensitive, which was concomitant with the decreased MDR1 expression. The study showed that the retrovirus vector encoding the anti-MDR1 ribozyme may be applicable to the treatment of MDR cells.